Irish e-commerce revenue based financing company Wayflyer lands $1B deal from Neuberger Berman

All the lights are shining green for Irish e-commerce revenue-based finance provider Wayflyer, who has signed a $1 billion funding deal with investment firm Neuberger Berman in an off-balance sheet programme. This capital injection will boost Wayflyer’s growth, particularly Stateside, and further its financing solutions. 

As the name suggests, an off-balance sheet (OBS) is a term that describes assets or liabilities that do not appear on a company's balance sheet. In the case of Wayflyer, the agreement notes a purchase up to $1 billion of assets from funds managed by investment management firm Neuberger Berman.

If the term off-balance sheet is ringing any bells, Enron, and its spectacular collapse, is perhaps the most publicly known use of off-balance-sheet entities.

Essentially, this means that NB is putting up the capital to help Wayflyer pay down some of the debt they’ve previously raised and use it for new financings. Wayflyer will then repay them over a certain period by buying loans in NB or their partner's portfolio.

Wayflyer was founded by Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse in 2019, however, Pierse announced his departure from the tech unicorn in July, where he had been CFO, to concentrate on a new venture. The RBF player also announced a 40 percent reduction of its global workforce in late 2022.

Wayflyer has maintained its commitment to financing e-commerce, renewing a $300 million debt line from J.P. Morgan in June of this year, at which point it said it had deployed over $2 billion to e-commerce businesses globally.

“As e-commerce businesses seek to navigate growth amid the current economic conditions, we’re seeing a growing demand for our reliable funding solutions, especially in the U.S. market. This $1 billion off-balance sheet purchase of assets from Neuberger Berman demonstrates the power, success, and resilience of our proposition and will provide the capital firepower for us to ensure our e-commerce customers can continue to thrive in any economic conditions," said Corbett on the deal. 

Lead image: Wayflyer CEO and co-founder Aidan Corbett. Photo: Naoise Culhane.